


Sometimes Good Ideas Don't Work Out Now, But They Always Could, Later

by slytherinsdaughter



Series: Finding Father [2]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Luke is too good for this world, Vader knows this, well mostly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 11:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12770106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherinsdaughter/pseuds/slytherinsdaughter
Summary: Luke and Vader have a talk.





	Sometimes Good Ideas Don't Work Out Now, But They Always Could, Later

**Author's Note:**

> "soft and gentle are,.... unconventional ways of describing Darth Torture Machine"  
> \- quote by someone talking to me
> 
> It's been so long and I'm still not completely happy with it but words are hard and fic you write yourself always looks weird, anyway.

Luke fidgeted. He glanced at Vader to see if he felt the same but he had no such tells.  Although there was something off about him that told Luke he was equally as nervous.

“Luke-“ he hesitated. “You should not be here.”

Luke huffed at him. “I didn’t know it was an _occupied_ imperial base.”

“There is no need for you to be on this planet in the first place. It is not important enough for the Rebellion to take notice of.”

Luke didn’t answer that. He turned to look out of the tall window behind him. The glow of the magma lit the stark white room red. “It’s not the most…friendly of planets is it?” _Why is this your home base?_

Vader paused looking at Luke for a long moment, then walked up to be beside Luke. “It is where I am required to be.”

Luke looked up at his father, confused, before realising he had sent that thought through the force.

They both stood silently, watching the magma explode and dance about in the air. It snaked around the building and lapped at the ash beaches.  Luke’s mind was not on the sight in front of him. It was on the sinking feeling in his stomach that _something wasn’t right._ He barely had a moment to think about it before, but why was his father so injured? All the scars that he had seen on his father in the bacta tank were bad – but they did not look like they were treated by a medic at any point. Why wouldn’t Darth Vader be able to get medical treatment?

“Required?” Luke looked up.

“The emperor wishes me to be here.”

A look from Luke showed him how much he thought of that answer so Vader expanded on it. “I live here. The emperor wishes it.”

“That’s not –“ Luke cut himself off. Weren’t most of his father’s injuries burns? He reached out and gently, softly, laid his hand on his father’s arm. “You got your burns on this planet, didn’t you?”

Luke didn’t need an answer but Vader still nodded after a moment of hesitation.

“I…wish for you to stay with me, my son. But not here. I will give you a shuttle-“

“I’m not- I can’t just _leave_ you here father!”

“Luke.”

Luke took a step closer to Vader and Vader took a step back. It would be funny if there wasn’t something horrible silently hovering over them. Luke had only sensed the tip of it and already he felt sick. What had the Emperor, and it had to be the Emperor, done to his father?

“Father.”

Vader turned away from his son. “I will allow you to take a datastick with a small amount of classified information on it as well. The Rebellion may actually do something useful for once, and kill the emperor.”

“Father, we can help you.”

“No. Only you want to help me, my son. And you cannot.”

“Father,” Luke repeated, his voice small.

Luke’s tone of voice had Vader turn to look at him. Luke clutched at Vader with both hands, twisting his hand into his until they were both holding hands. Both of his father’s hands felt hard, cybernetic. In one way, they matched. Luke looked Vader in the eyes.

 “Then _I will_ help you.”

Quietly, Vader repeated himself. “You cannot.”

Deep down Luke knew that it would take more than five minutes to save his father (from the Emperor? Himself?) but that didn’t mean he would give up now. He’d just found his _true_ father, and he was not just going to abandon him.

Luke wanted to turn away in denial but didn’t. Instead, he leaned closer and gently, ever so gently, wrapped his arms around him. It was a little awkward – Vader didn’t seem to respond to it and stiffened instead. But when Luke went to pull away his father enfolded him in his arms, in a hug that felt like it was the safest place in the universe.

Eventually, they pulled away from each other.

Vader pulled out a ship access key and held it out for Luke to take. “Use this shuttle to avoid the defences. It is where you will expect the shuttle bay to be.”

“Shuttle?”

The force was radiating fondness when his father replied, “Your friends may find it helpful.”

“Father…” Luke smiled brightly but his eyes were sad. He reached out and took the key from Vader. It seemed heavier than it should be. “I’ll see you again soon!”

“Hopefully not. Try not to cause too much chaos, son.”

After one last long look Luke turned away and jogged off. When he turned around the corner he saw out the corner of his eye Vader standing alone, watching him go.

 

* * *

 

 

It was easy getting to the shuttle bay, likely because most of the ‘troopers had gone to the other side of the building, nearer to _his_ ship. It was a pity that he couldn’t get his ship back – he’d spent so long fixing it up and making it good for Artoo to control.

He slowed down just outside the shuttle bay doors and tried to sense if anyone was in there. It seemed empty. Luke snuck in a side door and looked around, trying to see if he was right.

He was. There wasn’t a soul in sight – not even a powered-down droid.

Satisfied that he was safe, for now, he took the key out from his pocket and beeped it, making the ship’s ramp go down. If he had any idea which shuttle it was, he would have gone closer to it, just so he could be up the ramp quicker if anything happened. His father didn’t actually tell him what shuttle it was though, unfortunately.

The buzz of hydraulics caused Luke to look around and – his father _gave him_ the newest Imperial shuttle. It was still shiny and unscratched, barely used. The rebels knew nothing about what these ships could do and now Luke was bringing one back to them. His father had practically given it to the Rebellion with a gift-wrapped bow!

It felt a little like he was taking advantage. He wanted his father but not to get gifts from him, Luke just wanted to _know_ him. To know the man he is and was.

Luke’s train of thought was derailed by a nudge through his and his father’s bond.

_Luke. I thought I had told you to go back to your friends. It is not safe here._

_I’m going, I’m going. But father did you really have to give me-_

_Yes. It is the safest of all the shuttles. Now **leave,** son._

Luke pulled a face at that but did what he was told. The engine was easier to start than expected, but that might have been the fact he didn’t have to hotwire it. He strapped himself into the pilot seat. If the Imperial cogs on the paint didn’t tell him it was made for the Empire, the plain black piloting system would. With a couple of button pushes the wings expanded out and he was moving. The bay doors opened automatically for him and quickly, he was out. The thrill of piloting something new was overshadowed by the thrill of going up and away from the planet and into the black.

There weren’t any TIE fighters around. This ‘escape’ was the smoothest it ever had been for him.

His father was watching him escape from the other side of the bond, saying nothing.

  _Luke…_ There was a pause but Vader didn’t say anything else.

 _I’ll talk to you later, father_.

There was another long pause until his father replied. _Be safe, my son_.

“And you, father. Please be safe too.”

The lack of TIE fighters even attempting to follow him was confusing. They surely would have seen his unscheduled takeoff but Luke was just happy to have a safe-ish getaway.

He never did get the easy missions.

The hyperspace coordinates were quickly plotted and with a press of a button, he was gone from orbit.

Away from his father.

 

* * *

 

 

After a boring and eventless couple of hours, Luke came out of hyperspace near a small jungle planet. The vibrant orange and red leaves of the trees could even be seen in orbit.

Luke flew closer to where he knew the base was before opening his comm.

“Rogue-Stigma-L lone mission, reporting in. I’m the imperial shuttle, don’t fire.”

A cool voice replied. “Glad to see you back, Rogue. You’ve had an interesting day by the look of it. Land in bay Z.”

Luke thought quietly as he went to land. It was something he’d done a million times now and this ship was great. It moved smoothly, it steered easily…and his father had given it to him. His first gift and it was a ship. How many times did he dream as a child of flying with his father, of his father teaching him how to fly?

If he was really lucky maybe he would get to fly with his father in this lifetime.

One by one he switched off the shuttle button at a time. Soon the soft hum of the engine fell silent and he unstrapped himself, got up and stretched.

It was then Luke noticed how dirty he actually was.

His was all sweaty and ashy from the planet and admitted he could have used part of the time in hyperspace to wash rather than nap. He wasn’t that dirty though.

He tapped a small button to release the ramp.

The key to the ship itched in his pocket. It wasn’t until he had already left the planet that he found the tiny datastick inside of it that his father had indirectly talked about.

Walking down the ramp he saw Leia waiting for him at the bottom. She was determinately _not_ vibrating out of her skin in the way she got when she was annoyed by something.  Her clothes were all wrinkled, and she looked tired but she smiled a little when she saw him.  

“Luke, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he grinned at her, “I had the shock of my life, but I’m fine!”

She just rolled her eyes at him. “Mon wants you to report straight away.”

They walked side by side to Mothma, ignoring the sneaky and not so sneaky engineers and pilots that were wondering what was happening, _now?_

The hallways were as long as ever, but the looks that people gave him when they walked past him were amusing. He didn't think people could contort their faces like that! They must have heard his  _slightly_ panicked comm.

When they entered the room Mon Mothma was busy talking to several people and gesturing to something on a padd. As they waited Luke heard Vader for the first time in several hours.

_You are so much like your mother. You are too good to be mine._

It felt like something he wasn’t meant to overhear.


End file.
